News

There is much to read about different approaches to low carbon shipping, but very little of it actually guides you, as a tanker operator, as to what you should do. ABS is aiming to fill this gap. A starting point for each shipping company could be to follow IMO’s targets of reducing carbon intensity by 40 per cent by 2030 and 70 per cent by 2050, says Sotirios Mamalis, manager sustainability, fuels and technology with ABS. Each company will have its own roadmap to do this, based on the composition of its fleet and operations.

For example, ABS designed a model for a shipping company operating 10 bulk carriers today (2020). It could achieve the 2030 target first by reducing speed of all vessels by one knot. In 2023, it could replace three of the vessels with new LNG fuelled vessels (or retrofit 3 of the vessels to run on LNG). In 2025, it could introduce biofuel into 3 of the other vessels. This would add up to a 49 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions over 2020 to 2030. We don’t need to change everything. ABS predicts that by 2050, 40 per cent of maritime fuels will still be oil based, while 35 per cent will be zero carbon fuels, either hydrogen or ammonia. A smaller fraction will be others, such as biofuels, methanol, LNG and LPG. More information: Tanker Operator

The outlook for long-term contracted ocean freight rates continues to look weak based on data from the shipping industry and economic forecasts according to the latest XSI Public Indices report from Oslo-based Xeneta. According to the report, rates fell for the second consecutive month as the ramifications of coronavirus continue to impact the global economy. Based on crowd-sourced data from leading shippers, and an analysis of data covering more than 160,000 port-to-port pairings, Xeneta reports that rates are now down over one percent year-over-year. Although levels remain historically high, according to Xeneta the carrier segment has now seen a 0.2 percent decline since the beginning of 2020, after four consecutive months of increases through to February. June saw a steep decline (1.8%) coming after May’s decline (1.2%) and providing little assurance for carriers. More information: Maritime Executive

Albion Marine team has successfully completed a 3D Scan and has started designing scope for BWTS Retrofit on two vessels belonging to a leading shipping company in U.S.A. Our team is specialized in legislative compliance solutions: ballast water treatment systems, air emission abatement technologies, energy efficiency solutions, hybrid power and ocean protection.

The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) and the European Barge Inspection Scheme (EBIS) are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to transition key elements of EBIS into OCIMF’s Ship Inspection Report (SIRE) programme. These include the EBIS vessel questionnaire templates, technical information templates currently in development by EBIS, Version 9. As a result of a successful transfer and use of EBIS 9 templates into the OCIMF SIRE programme, the EBIS Board of Directors with their membership are expected to terminate its obligations and dissolve the EBIS company in 2022.

To facilitate a smooth transition both organisations have agreed:

• All EBIS members can apply to become SIRE programme recipients.
• OCIMF will seek to assist the EBIS members in their application.
• All Accredited EBIS Inspectors will have the opportunity to gain SIRE Cat 3 accreditation for the European region following application and a training course.
• Assistance will be provided to vessel Owners and Operators transferring their fleet’s EBIS technical information into the SIRE database.
• EBIS 9 will be hosted by OCIMF from 1 January 2021. This aligns with EBIS’s normal implementation cycle of a new questionnaire and technical information templates. The EBIS 8 questionnaire will be retired from the EBIS database and this data will be available in the current EBIS database as a historical document, until 31 December 2021.

More information: Tanker Operator